James name causes stir

Ohio State offered a media tour of its expanded and renovated basketball practice facility yesterday in the Schottenstein Center.

The new bells and whistles include a rehab pool in the training room that can accommodate a 7-footer and offer the medical staff an underwater video view of a patient's running gait. The weight room floor, meanwhile, is set on springs to provide give for heavy lifting. Each is a state-of-the-art improvement for the program.

But a nameplate in the new men's locker room for NBA star LeBron James has drawn as much or more attention. James, of course, never played for the Buckeyes. He went straight from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School to the NBA.

So why does James have a locker? OSU coach Thad Matta addressed the topic briefly with reporters. Kids, recruits especially, notice the James name.

"There's no question about that," Matta said. "He's done a lot of things in his time. I think from a standpoint we would always want to pay our respect after what he did for us in '07. We were the first LeBron school."

That refers to the first Lebron signature uniform from Nike.

"Obviously, we get tremendous product from him," Matta said. "He's very proud of what we've done just in terms of his name and being from Ohio and the fact that we wear his gear. That's important for us."